Pretend We're Not
by Elis Narene
Summary: A one-shot songfic using the song 'You and Me' by Lifehouse to give melody to the mood between Harry and Ginny very shortly after events at the end of book 6. Very light angst, if any. Spoiler alert for HBP.


A/N : SPOILER alert for those who haven't read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! My first songfic and first Harry Potter fic. It seems lame to me (and after such a long abscence too!) but as usual, I just had to write it down. Song lyrics are by Lifehouse, 'You and Me', am in love with the song at the moment. All characters belong to JK Rowling. R&R welcome.

**Pretend We're Not**

Everything looked deceptively normal about The Burrow, the crooked red-roofed house. Inside though, there was no attempts at being their usual cheerful, hungry selves. It could simply have been the early morning or the grim mood of things at the moment. Either way, a certain youth with a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead was certainly not attacking his first helping of porridge with his usual enthusiasm today.

"Pass the salt, Harry." Glasses sliding down his nose, Harry continued to stare down at his porridge.

"Harry? Pass the salt, please." Ron said loudly before actually looking at his friend and realising he was lost in reverie. "Oh, come on. You're alright, aren't you?" he started awkwardly. "I mean, I know—" He was cut off by Mrs. Weasley who had come to the kitchen door to investigate, "Ron! Come help me carry this pot!"

"Bother.." Ron go up and went, leaving Harry and Ginny behind in their silence.

_What day is it? And in what month?  
This clock never seemed so alive  
I can't keep up and I can't back down  
I've been losing so much time_

Harry only raised his green-eyed gaze a notch and the sight of Ginny bending over her porridge came into full view. His own words at their 'parting' after Dumbledore's funeral came to mind, 'I wish I'd asked you sooner. We could've had ages…months…years maybe…' Leveling his gaze on her fiery red locks falling into her face against her pale skin, he whispered, "Yeah, I wish I'd asked you sooner." She looked up, startled, "What?" He stared at his porridge again. "Nothing."

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do  
Nothing to lose  
And it's you and me and all of the people  
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you_

The sound of Mrs. Weasley's hushed conversation with Ron could be heard through the kitchen door, "Is he alright? He's not eating again, isn't he?" Ron sounded exasperated and concerned at the same time as he replied, " No, mum! He hasn't but then, which one of us has been eating much anyway?"

Both Harry and Ginny continued to brood, wasting no effort on pretending everything was fine and that nothing had gone on between them. Ginny finally broke the silence, " I suppose you'd better eat something. Mum is awfully worried." Surprised, Harry looked up, " Yeah, you too." And in afterthought, "You don't have to worry about me too." Her eyes blazed with that hard look for a moment before she said, "I know."

_All of the things that I want to say just aren't coming out right  
I'm tripping on words  
You've got my head spinning  
I don't know where to go from here_

"Yes, but you're all growing. And he'll need his strength…" this came out in a sob from Mrs. Weasley. Ron sounded even more awkward, "Mum…it's alright. Really, Harry's never let us down before now has he?"

Harry's fist tightened around the handle of his spoon. Things would never go back to normal around here again. Not until he fulfilled the prophecy and finished off Voldemort. Or the other way round. But knowing the outcome should the latter prophecy come true, he hardened his heart with a burning resolve. 'It's as much for my parents as anyone else…' His gaze wandered yet again to Ginny.

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do  
Nothing to prove  
And it's you and me and all of the people  
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you_

Involuntarily, his mind drifted back to their first kiss before almost all Griffindors and the way she looked that time. Stolen moments together, how she used to be in her first year. And finally, he cracked a smile as he remembered how she knocked things over everytime he was in the room and how she used to blush. In that year, her crush had been nothing more than an embarrasment to him largely in part of the term 'Harry Potter fan club' coined in his second year. His smile began to fade as he thought of how well she knew him, the way she held his gaze even as she knew he was going to end their relationship. Her bravery, he realised, was equal only to his mother, Lily's.

_There's something about you now  
I can't quite figure out  
Everything she does is beautiful  
Everything she does is right_

The smell of sizzling bacon wafted through the air as Mrs. Weasley and Ron came through the door. "Here, have some of this then, dear." She said quietly, keeping up a brave smile. Ron grinned a little too widely at Harry and slipped into his seat. Harry grinned back but at the sight of Mrs. Weasley's face, remembered Ginny's remark and began shoveling down spoonfulls of porridge.

"There now, there's no need to hurry." Molly Weasley looked concerned again and conjured up a glass of pumpkin juice as he began to choke. Ginny looked as if she wanted to say something when Fleur appeared at the top of the stairs. "Ginny!Eet eez time to try your bridesmaid dress!" Ginny rolled her eyes but disappeared upstairs and Ron engaged Harry in a Quidditch discussion.

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do  
Nothing to lose  
And it's you and me and all of the people  
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you  
and me and all of the people with nothing to do  
Nothing to prove  
And it's you and me and all of the people  
And I don't know why, I can't keep my eyes off of you_

"I seriously think we ought to put Demelza on a more aggressive stance." Ron was saying. "Yes, but Ginny's covering the higher fields already and I don't think –" Harry's mouth hung open at the sight of Ginny descending in a simple but lovely gown of pale gold. Her expression was one of bored disinterest but a telltale tinge of pink coloured her cheeks. "Eezn't she beeautiful? She weel look absolutely sweet with Gabrielle!" These words barely registered in Harry's mind. The sight of her stunned him.

When she reached the last step, she shot Harry a quick glance before letting her mother and Fleur fuss over her. A hand landed on Harry's shoulder and Ron said in a low voice, "I don't know exactly what went on between you and her but, if in any case after all this is over, you'd want to be together, just say the word." Tearing his gaze from her, Harry nodded, "Thanks, Ron, for everything." And that voice in the back of his head kept taunting him, 'what was that he'd said? Right, we can't be together anymore.'

_What day is it?  
And in what month?  
This clock never seemed so alive_


End file.
